Tue 15.7.

Matthew Strong’s Carbon Fiber Eames Sofa is the result of extensive research at the archives at The Henry Ford Museum, Cranbrook, and MoMA.

‘Carbon Fiber Eames Sofa’ by Matthew Strong

The sofa’s form is based on a series of prototypes at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan of an extruded fiberglass shell armchair that was being developed sometime in the late 1950′s. Each iteration of the design was thicker than the last in order to strengthen it enough to hold multiple sitters. However, the final iteration, at a full 3/4-inch thick, was too heavy to move easily.

‘Carbon Fiber Eames Sofa’ by Matthew Strong

“The Carbon Fiber Eames Sofa imagines the sofa reborn using the most modern materials and the most traditional methods.” says Strong. “Woven using a traditional woven caning pattern out of 12k carbon fiber tow, it weighs in at single digits, the weaving pattern adds substantial strength to the design and helps with cross-bond adhesion.”

‘Carbon Fiber Eames Sofa’ by Matthew Strong

“It’s transparency lays bare its own construction methodology, and allows visual access to every part of the base, giving it an aesthetic coherence that feels both uncanny and curiously natural.”